What decision are you actually making?
A lower cost per form submission can look like progress while sales receives more duplicate or unsuitable inquiries. Start with a commercial brief: the available project, price and payment conditions, serviceable locations, sales capacity and the stage you can measure reliably.
Google describes Performance Max as a goal-based campaign that can complement keyword-based Search across its inventory. That broader scope is a capability, not proof that it will produce better property inquiries. Equally, a Search click is not evidence that the person can buy the advertised unit.
On smaller screens, scroll the table horizontally to read all columns.
| Decision | Search | Performance Max |
|---|---|---|
| Acquisition brief | Organise the offer around selected keyword themes | Prepare assets and goals for broader inventory |
| Evidence to review | Available search terms, destinations and CRM outcomes | Available campaign, asset and channel reports plus CRM outcomes |
| What neither establishes | Buyer eligibility or incremental sales by itself | Buyer eligibility or incremental sales by itself |
Primary reference: Google Ads: About Performance Max
Check the conversion before choosing the campaign
List the actions included in campaign goals. A successful inquiry receipt, a project-qualified lead and a signed contract are different outcomes. If every low-friction registration is treated as the business objective, changing the campaign type does not repair that definition.
Use a documented Google Ads conversion import or another supported integration for eligible CRM outcomes. Storing a click identifier in CRM is only one part of that process; reconcile accepted, rejected and missing records. Meta CAPI is not a Google Ads conversion integration.
If using conversion values, document the commercial basis, currency and treatment of cancellations. A made-up value assigned to a site visit is not collected revenue. Keep an earlier-stage count visible when later outcomes are delayed, but label it accurately.
Review the pages and assets the campaign can use
Inspect Final URL expansion and URL exclusions against the current property offer. Google says expansion can replace the supplied Final URL with another relevant page on the same domain. Check the actual setting and destinations rather than assuming the entered Landing Page is the only possible page.
Ask whether old project pages, recruitment pages or unrelated services are eligible destinations. Review creative accuracy, brand exclusions and applicable suitability controls separately. A URL exclusion is not a universal control over every placement or search query.
Primary reference: Google Ads: Final URL expansion in Performance Max
Write a test brief before reallocating budget
State the question, included campaigns, offer, locations, languages, budget ceiling and review owner. Record changes to sales coverage or the Landing Page because they can change outcomes independently of the campaign type. Avoid changing the offer, bidding and qualification rules together and calling the result a clean comparison.
Define the inquiry cohort and review cutoff. Compare spend per unique inquiry, project-fit reasons, contact outcomes and later sales stages using the same definitions. Mark pending outcomes instead of classifying every unclosed inquiry as a failure. Do not infer incremental sales from two dashboard totals alone.
There is no universal 70/30 Search-to-PMax allocation. The available budget must support the specific test and commercial risk. Agree what would justify continuing, changing or stopping it before observing the result; do not promise a numerical uplift without evidence.
Leave a decision record the next team can use
Keep the campaign settings, conversion definitions, destination review, reporting cutoff, exclusions and known data gaps with the decision. Separate what the platform recorded, what CRM confirmed and what remains an assumption.
If the result is inconclusive, say why: too few mature outcomes, a changed offer, an incomplete import or a different sales process. A useful review can identify the next measurement repair without declaring Search or PMax the winner.
Frequently asked questions
Choose the next step for your project review
- Compare CPQL and advertising spend per contract
- Review calculation definitions and limits
- Read the GPR Property experience in context
For a campaign, lead-quality or measurement review, begin with the project objective and aggregate figures for the same period. Deliverables, timing and fees depend on the assessed scope; outcomes are not guaranteed.
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